The famous no-knead bread: does it work for everyone?

I've tried the no-knead bread (the one published in the NYT and blogged about by the Amatuer Gourmet and Chocolate & Zucchini, amoung others), but I can't get it to come out right. The dough is just too sticky coming off the first rise, and I can't shape it into anything ball shaped without a lot of additional flour. Another problem is the 'generously coat a kitchen towel with flour' step. The entire kitchen gets covered in flour, and the finished bread has an unappealingly thick coating of flour. It also doesn't rise nearly as much as what I've seen on various blogs. I'm in the UK, so I suppose I could be dealing with differences in flour/yeast, but I've followed C&Z's more weight-based instructions, also without sucess. Any hints from anyone?